


Welcome to Camp Konoha

by kazenezumi123, Whatsinthebasement



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Anxiety, Awkward Tension, Bromance, Drama, Friendship, Love Triangles, M/M, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-08 12:00:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15242943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazenezumi123/pseuds/kazenezumi123, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatsinthebasement/pseuds/Whatsinthebasement
Summary: Naruto is returning to the summer camp where he’d spent many happy days as a camper, but coming back as a counselor after finishing his freshman year of college means having a way different experience. For one, Sasuke fell off the face of the earth during the past year and refused to answer any of his texts, and for some reason he’s coming back as a counselor too? Having already ignored Naruto for a year, coming back to rub it in his face would be the perfect taunt. One thing's for sure though: the summer is bound to be full of drama, screaming campers, sunburn, bug bites, drunken revelry, and possibly some romance.





	1. Reunions and Rivalries

Naruto couldn’t understand where everything went wrong.

He, the most unpredictable person amongst his friends, couldn’t grasp the fact that the mess hall, which was nice and peaceful less than five minutes ago, was now a warzone.

Naruto was lying on the cold hardwood floor soaked in tomato sauce and what he believed to be canned fruit, thanks to his epic display of slipping in a pile of fallen spaghetti and landing flat on his back. Trays and various kinds of bread and fruit flew across the room, raining down on the tables faster than Naruto could keep track of them, and the room was filled with screaming.

Fifty children screamed as they ran for cover under the tables. Kakashi and Guy yelled and demanded for order. Kiba stood above Naruto and yelled for him to “snap out of it and get the hell up”.

He had a headache.

Whether it was from the chaos around him or because of the way he hit his head on the way down, Naruto couldn’t tell, but he knew that if he didn’t get up soon the problem wasn’t going to be solved.

He watched Sakura from across the room as she rushed towards him in a panic. She ducked a flying wad of pasta, but instead slipped on one of the many abandoned trays on the ground, quickly meeting the same fate Naruto had not long ago and falling face first into a puddle of mashed potatoes.

This was hell.

Liquids splattered the windows, the floors, the people close enough to end up in their trajectory, but thankfully not the ceiling. Naruto would have been impressed; the mess hall was massive along with its well-renowned high ceilings, so if the kids could get spaghetti that high up they deserved some kind of a badge.

However, the fact that food was still flying around the room was unacceptable. His friends scrambled to grab the kids who still participated, but they could only move so fast when the floor was coated with sauce and artificial syrup. They were all falling rather than moving anywhere, but there had to be something he could do aside from lying there and watching it all happen.

Naruto slowly sat up and looked around at the carnage that would become known as the second class A food fight of Camp Konoha. It definitely topped its elder, and Kakashi and Guy were trying, harder than they normally did with anything, to stop the war before it took any more victims.

As he moved to stand up, a carton hit Naruto in the back of the head, splashing milk into his hair and over his shoulders in a cascade of chocolate. He was sure his hair was filled with salad clippings, fruit, noodles, and who knew what else. His clothes were soaked and when he wiped his face his fingers came away with what he hoped to be sauce and not blood.

Things were out of control, but normally Naruto would find something like this fun. He had started the last food fight at camp and it was one of his favorite memories from his childhood. He was the prankster, the one always getting in trouble, the knucklehead, so why did this entire situation piss him off more than raise his spirits?

Okay, maybe he had started this food fight too, but this time it was completely unintentional. On top of that, it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Naruto slowly turned his head to glare at the guy who had provoked him into starting this in the first place. He met Sasuke’s onyx gaze from where he stood a few tables away, hair disheveled and splattered with applesauce and a look of pure outrage on his face. Naruto had expected him to be smirking, proud of what he had succeeded in doing, but Sasuke seemed to be more upset about the fact that he was covered in his campers’ lunch.

They glared at each other as they remained rooted in their spots among the chaos of flying food and Naruto finally understood why things had turned out like this. Whenever he and Sasuke came to a disagreement, they always found a way to blow things out of proportion, but maybe this time it had gotten a little out of hand.

Their rivalry was so deep-rooted that Naruto knew it would be something he’d never get out of, a destined fate that he didn’t remember taking part in, but things clicked into place and Naruto could only ask himself one thing.

Who exactly was Sasuke Uchiha to him? An enemy? A rival?  A friend?

As they stared each other down the question begged to be answered, but the series of events leading up to that moment made everyone wonder what the two completely different boys seemed to find within each other to keep up their shenanigans for this long. Events that both complicated and questioned their relationship beyond what they had imagined.

So in order to understand, the story will rewind back to the beginning. Back to the first day of training for Naruto and his friends, before the campers came for summer break. Before the food fight, and the chaos that ensued there, and before Naruto knew what he was getting into.

It was the summer he had been waiting for, the summer he’d take back the camp he had grown up in and spend some quality time with his friends.

What he didn’t know was that it would be the summer Sasuke returned to make Naruto’s life a living hell.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe it’s already that time of the year.”

Naruto swung his duffel bag over his shoulder and made his way into the living room, his mom hot on his heels as usual.

“Yeah it sure is.” Naruto sighed back. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved to get away from home for a while. School had only been out for a couple of weeks and he was already dying for some privacy; his mother hovered him like a cloud and his father lingered around ready to spoil him at the drop of a hat. He had really missed them, but Naruto felt like it was time to flee the nest again.

“You finally get home from college and you’re right back out the door again! I feel like we barely had any time with you!” his mother Kushina crossed her arms with a melancholic expression that automatically stirred guilt in him. Before Naruto could respond, his mother broke into an authentic smile and shook her head, causing her bright red hair to swing over her shoulders. “I know you’re excited to leave…camp is your favorite part of summer after all.”

“This is the third year of you being a counselor, right Naruto?”

Naruto turned to see his father watching them from the hallway. His blue eyes regarded his son with a somewhat forlorn emotion; it seemed Minato too dreaded the departure of his only son.

Naruto refrained from rolling his eyes. His parents only grew more attached to him after his first year away at college, as if it weren’t bad enough before.

“Yeah and it’ll be my ninth year there.” It still amazed him at how long he’d been going to the same camp. From the age of nine, his parents had sent him away to the two-week program at Camp Konoha in the hope that he’d make more friends; Naruto believed it was because they really didn’t want to bring their rowdy, trouble-causing son on cruise ships across the Atlantic for the sake of peace and quiet.

“Time flies.” Minato whistled. He made his approach towards Naruto and Kushina when his eyes wandered out the front window, a small smile appearing on his face. “Looks like your friends are here.”

As if on cue, the unmistakable sound of Kiba’s car horn echoed outside the house in quick and annoying beeps before the long blare when Kiba laid on it.

Kushina slowly turned her head to glare out the window with a look strong enough to reach Kiba through his darker tinted windows. The honking abruptly stopped and Naruto heard Kiba shout “sorry!”.

“Well, that’s my signal.” Naruto found himself sandwiched between his parents at the front door, momentarily crushed by their love and comfort before he peeled away to open the front door. Naruto hated leaving, this was the hardest part of the summer. He loved his parents more than anything, and he hated to say that he was glad to leave home, but as he grew older he began to understand that he just needed the balance of home life and well…not home life.

Naruto stepped out into the humid June air and waved goodbye to his parents as he hopped down the steps of their porch.

“Bye honey we love you! Be safe and make good decisions! Call us every once and a while! Have fun!” Kushina waved her arms in the air rapidly until Minato lightly held them down with gentle hands on her shoulders.

He smiled back calmly. “What she said.”

Naruto couldn’t help but smile back at his parent’s usual behavior. “Love you guys too! And I will!”

As Naruto turned back to Kiba’s bright red SUV, only one set of hands waved at him energetically from the backseat among the other possible two. The trunk popped open on command for Naruto to toss in his bag, and he was surprised to see the passenger seat vacant for him.

“You soccer mom’ed here just for me?” Naruto cooed as he climbed in, but a certain sight made him cringe back in mild disgust. “Oh God Kiba what the hell is that on your face?”

“It’s called facial hair, asshole.” Kiba barked back and put the car in drive before Naruto could even close his door. The tires screeched against the pavement as they shot off and down the street.

“Great, I’m glad you did that in front of my parents.” Naruto properly shut his door and fastened his seatbelt as quickly as he could. His parents were overprotective enough, thank you.

“Relax, we got a month and a half away from all adults, it’s the luxury vacation man!”

“Are you forgetting Kakashi and Guy?” Neji’s voice made Naruto turn around in excitement. The dark haired boy didn’t appear amused at Kiba’s driving, and his gray eyes narrowed at Kiba’s remark. The boy was moody as usual.

“There’s also Yamato.” Shikamaru yawned from the opposite side. He looked like he was halfway through a nap and had been rudely awakened; Naruto didn’t doubt that was the case.

And the complete opposite of both boys, the embodiment of vigor itself, bounced in his seat with a fiery look of determination. Lee squirmed around with too much energy for ten o’clock in the morning and Naruto always wondered how he did it.

“I always forget Yamato is there…the guy just blends in the background.” Neji frowned.

“When has Kakashi or Guy ever done anything remotely adult-like? They let us drink at the site.” Kiba turned onto the highway a little too quickly, swerving over two lanes of traffic to make it before the light could change. “I’m sure one of these years they’re gonna drink with us.”

“It’s called feigning ignorance and that’s only on counselor holidays.” Shikamaru replied plainly. “I’m sure we’d get in trouble if we invited them to drink with us.”

Naruto turned to face the right way in his seat and listened to his friends bicker. He had missed this; all of them together making the trip to camp was one of his favorite parts of the summer itself. Although he had been in touch with many of his friends, a few of them attended the same university as him, and he wondered how much they had all changed after their first year in college. Naruto felt as though he had changed a little, but the stories his friends would share would be one of the best parts of camp.

“This year is going to be pretty busy thanks to this guy.” Kiba gestured to Naruto with his free hand and gave him a blinding smile. “I think we have the most counselors for the three sessions than we ever have.”

“Nah its thanks to everyone.” Naruto quickly shrugged off the praise and leaned forward in excitement. “I actually got two new people to come in!”

“And who would that be?” Neji asked.

“Hinata and Gaara are going to be first year counselors this year…oh! And Konohamaru is training this summer to be a counselor next year!”

“Konohamaru…? Our high school principal’s bratty grandkid?” Shikamaru’s response seemed to mostly be a comment to himself. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance once the words left his mouth. “Why do I know that?” he questioned himself with a mutter.

“Exactly! He’s actually a pretty responsible kid and he’s got drive. I think he’s coming in the last session of the season.”

“Well damn.” Kiba cracked his neck with a playful smile. “Remember when this camp was a pin-prick away from being shut down? And by pin-prick I mean that fucking prick of a man shaped like a bowling pin who just wanted to see a bunch of kids cry over old land?”

Naruto nodded slowly while the others hummed in affirming gestures. He certainly did remember; it was one of the worst times of his life. Just the thought of his favorite childhood place being shut down and turned into a new shopping district made his insides coil. Luckily, the man’s plans fell through due to a problem with budgeting, otherwise they would’ve kissed their camp goodbye years ago.

“Speaking of pricks…” Kiba’s voice dropped to a lower tone, “Naruto, have you heard from Sasuke?”

Naruto chewed on his lower lip and looked out the window.

“Nah, since graduation he just vanished.” Naruto had spent a long time trying to convince himself that he wasn’t offended, but he gave up and accepted the facts. Clearly Sasuke didn’t want anything to do with anyone from their graduating class, and if he was going to disappear without warning, there wasn’t much Naruto could do. Although he had tried, for months, to get into contact with him, Naruto came up short. “He changed his phone number and I never knew his email or anything so…”

“Just like that, huh.” Kiba snorted bitterly. “He’s a counselor for a year and just up and leaves without warning? And then they send fucking Sai as his replacement, I can’t _stand_ that guy.” Kiba growled out the last half, jerking the wheel a little sharply as he changed lanes.

“Tell me about it, he touched my ass at least three times every day last year.” Naruto groaned.

“He just stares at your dick and smirks at it like it’s the funniest thing in the world!” Kiba added, earning an amused chuckle from Neji.

“Maybe if it were more impressive, he wouldn’t have done that.”

“Oh can it Neji, I bet he laughed at you too.”

“Don’t you think Sai bears resemblance to Sasuke?” Lee finally popped into the conversation.

“Aside from the pale skin, dark hair, eyes, attitude, asshole-like antics, and fucking sarcastic smile? Oh shit…” Kiba trailed off as he thought about it, leaving the car in silence.

“They’re nothing alike.” Naruto rested his head against the window and watched the exit signs pass overhead. “At least Sasuke doesn’t try to jump in your pants.”

For a while, no one responded. They rode in silence aside from Kiba’s radio, blasting country music through the car for the rest of the ride.

* * *

  

They arrived at camp an hour later, mildly refreshed from their naps and giddy with renewed childlike excitement from seeing the familiar gates to camp come into view. The massive trees encircling the road made it feel as though they were entering another world, deep in the wilderness and away from the bustling downtown life Naruto was used to. The path wound around until reaching the massive parking lot, marked with old painted signs and faded lines.

As soon as they stepped out of the car, they all breathed in the priceless woodsy air and stretched their stiff joints before reaching for their things in the trunk.

The camp looked the same as it had only one year ago, and as the group navigated the trail they knew like the back of their hands, the trees slowly parted way to reveal the open landscape of the campsite. The cluster of cabins closest to them marked the boy’s living quarters while the larger structure directly across was the communal restrooms. Farther down the northern path was the entertainment building, and at the end of the path stood the largest building in camp: the mess hall. The east signified the girls’ living quarters and the counselor’s cabins stood not too far from the camp store situated just before the patch of trees leading into the lecture building.

Naruto could navigate the place blindfolded–he had on one occasion, but that was something he preferred not to remember. As they approached the men’s counselor cabin, a familiar man stood a few feet from the porch, arms crossed with the same twinkle in his eyes as he had when Naruto was first a camper. Kakashi’s white hair, despite his young age, reflected in the sunlight as they drew closer and the allergy mask covering his face did little to hide his smile.

“Welcome back boys.” Kakashi greeted them with a wave. “How was college?”

“Super turnt, super stressful, probably the same as it was for you Kakashi.” Kiba gave Kakashi a playful bump on the shoulder.

Surprisingly, Kakashi’s smile refused to waver. “I don’t even remember college, that was a thing of the past.” He waved the topic away before stepping aside from the porch. “You guys can start unpacking and chill out until the others arrive. We have a meeting starting at two, so just make sure you’re in the conference room then. Pass it on to the others when you see them.” With that, Kakashi retreated to the lecture building–also known as his second home. Otherwise, he, Guy, and Yamato shared a cabin behind the counselors’.

Naruto climbed the stairs slowly and took a nostalgic look around before opening the wooden door. He was greeted by the spacious living area and high ceilinged architecture each cabin possessed. A door on each side of the room led to the bedrooms, each held four beds with their own small storage units underneath to hold their things. The place, which Kiba called the bachelor’s pad, was pretty nice. It had an air conditioner installed in the main window of the living room and WiFi—which the campers weren’t supposed to know about, not to mention a mini-fridge.

“Good to be back.” Kiba took a good look around the cabin before heading off to the left room, his usual choice. Naruto and Lee followed suit while Neji and Shikamaru went to the other.

Naruto dashed to his preferred bed, the farthest from the door and window, and barely managed to beat Kiba before the guy could steal his spot.

“Dammit you always get the best one!” Kiba stomped his foot in frustration before taking the one next to him. “When I’m cranky because the sun is in my eyes, I’m blaming you.”

Naruto threw down his bag with a triumphant grin. “Go ahead.”

“The sun is the best alarm clock.” Lee said matter-of-factly as he took the window-bed with a smile.

“I bet you can’t wait to start the work-outs with Guy huh?” Kiba gave Lee a toothy grin over his shoulder. Naruto could tell that he was half-joking, but knowing Lee it was probably the only thing on his mind. Not only was Lee their dear activity overseer’s pride and joy since the first day of camp, he and Guy were the most energetic members of the camp; Naruto truly believed that the two were somehow related. They had to be. No one would keep the bowl cut and bushy eyebrows unless it was a genetic trait that couldn’t be avoided.

“Of course! Guy told me that he made an entire work-out regime for me to do for the summer! Isn’t that so kind of him?!”

_Yikes_. Naruto mentally cringed at the thought of carrying out just one of Guy’s assignments. He’d be running laps until sundown, and that wasn’t something Naruto wanted in eighty-degree weather.

The three fell into easy conversation as they unpacked their bags and made their beds. They talked about college, girls, sports, and random topics Naruto didn’t even know how they reached until they wandered into the living room to meet up with Neji and Shikamaru. The cabin door opened to reveal a surprisingly less-chunky version of the boy Naruto hadn’t seen since his senior year at high school.

“Choji?!” Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. Shikamaru’s eyes widened in surprise and a rare smile appeared on his face.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Shikamaru asked him.

“Guess who’s the mess hall supervisor this summer?” Choji gave them a smug grin in return. Naruto had no idea that Kakashi had hired a mess hall supervisor, in fact, he didn’t even know if they really needed one…

Naruto kept his thoughts to himself.

Over the next three hours, the other guys showed up and dropped off their bags. Naruto greeted Gaara, and to his disappointment Sai as well, before the girls came over to visit. Sakura nearly tore the hinges off the door as she led the group into their small fortress.

“Ugh it already smells like men in here.” Ino wrinkled her nose at the imaginary smell. Behind her stood Hinata, who shared a shy smile with her cousin Neji and then Naruto, and TenTen, who was quickly rushed by Lee with a dangerous hug.

“It’s all in your head Sakura.” Kiba made a point of clearing his throat as obnoxiously as he could, earning a round of disgusted groans from the girls. Before leaving, they checked their rooms to make sure that they had everything in place in case Guy tried to do a room inspection like he had last year. He graded them on the first day of move-in and never did it again, but their failure had ended in a nearly hour-long lecture on health and safety. In curiosity, Naruto peered into the other room to see if they were neater; as he closed the door behind him, he noted that there was an additional bed in that room, but it was still bare. He brushed it off with a shrug and joined the others back in the living room.

 

Once two o’clock rolled around, they all made their way over to the entertainment center. They passed the hallways that were lined with years of their camp photos and awards as they approached the conference room. Naruto lingered near the back, looking closely at the photos as his friends filed into the room. The office door next to the single bathroom opened, catching Naruto’s attention as he moved to follow his friends.

The person who stepped out made Naruto’s words stick in his throat as if he’d swallowed glue. He could only stare at the dark-haired boy as he emerged from the office with the same, indifferent expression he’d had in high school. Onyx eyes locked with Naruto’s shocked blue ones and for a moment neither of them spoke.

“S…Sa…” Naruto stumbled on his words as different emotions rolled off him in waves. First it was surprise, the next it was relief, and then it became disbelief, before turning into the small sparks of anger Naruto remembered well. “Sasuke?”

Sasuke blinked and, to Naruto’s surprise, he smiled. It was a smirk, but nonetheless a brief flash of emotion crossed Sasuke’s features as he looked at his old classmate.

“Naruto.” Sasuke said simply before walking past him and into the conference room. Naruto heard the round of gasps once the boy entered the room, but it took him a while to process what had actually happened. Kakashi emerged from the office and tilted his head at Naruto’s frozen appearance.

“Everything alright Naruto?”

_What’s he doing here?_ Is what Naruto wanted to ask, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask the question. He simply shook his head and let Kakashi guide him into the room with a steady hand. He dropped into the empty chair between Kiba and Gaara without a word. He could feel Kiba’s inquisitive gaze on the side of his face, but he ignored it as Kakashi took his seat and shuffled some files in front of him.

Kakashi began the meeting, announcing the group assignments and colors for said group. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai were to handle the eleven to fourteen-year-old age group while Hinata and Gaara were put in charge of the younger eight to ten-year-old age group. Kakashi passed out the activity brochures, which he ordered them all to memorize, and Naruto found himself looking up to stare at Sasuke. It was unreal; Naruto had been sure that he’d never see Sasuke again, let alone at camp, yet here he was as if it were normal. He didn’t spare Naruto another glance during the entire hour-long meeting, and Naruto didn’t know whether he should be angry or happy.

He had missed Sasuke, that, he could admit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say whether Sasuke felt the same about him. Their entire friendship had always felt a little one-sided, but that was also due to Sasuke’s distant personality. He had told Naruto, right before graduation, that Naruto was his one and only friend, and that had made him giddy for months. However, Sasuke’s disappearance left a sour taste in his mouth and left him doubting everything that had happened between them.

No, Naruto was angry.

In fact, he was pissed.

During their first years of being counselors, everything between Sasuke and him had been a competition. Even if they weren’t at camp, someone always had to be the best. While Naruto could admit that it was tiring, he was excited to see what this summer would bring to the table.

Once Kakashi dismissed them from the meeting, they all filed out into the courtyard. Naruto noticed that Sasuke hadn’t followed; it was possible he was still speaking with Kakashi, and Naruto mentally kicked himself for his mind automatically going to Sasuke of all things.

“Wanna take a stroll around the place for old times’ sake?” Kiba hooked an arm around Naruto’s shoulder and gave him a light shake. Naruto could tell that Kiba knew exactly what was running through his head, and he could only smile with gratitude.

“Yeah let’s go to the summit.” Naruto nodded before turning his head as far as Kiba’s arm would permit him. “Come on guys let’s do a hike before the bonfire!”

* * *

  

“Man there are some things I do not miss from this shithole.” Kiba smacked a mosquito on his arm with a grimace as they crossed the little marsh on the way back to the courtyard. The sun was starting to set, painting the fields with a pale orange glow that reminded Naruto of how much he loved the place.

“I can do without the leeches.” Neji sighed from behind them. “Yet I’m going to be in the water all summer with them.”

“That’s what happens when you’re a lifeguard.” TenTen mused happily. “I get to be in the shade all day.”

“Except when you’re teaching the kids how to hold a bow in the direct sunlight.” Neji countered with a friendly smile he only seemed to reserve for a select few.

As they approached the lake, Kiba let out a long sigh.

“Are we really not going to talk about Sasuke?” Kiba came to a stop, causing the entire group to idle near the docks. “I mean, the guy just disappears and comes back without telling anyone?”

“I’m sure he had a reason.” Sakura crossed her arms and gave Kiba a cold look. “The summer after high school is the most stressful, I don’t blame him for not coming.”

Naruto wanted to agree with Sakura. Yeah, it was certainly a stressful summer, but at least a text would be nice…some form of contact would have been fine.

“Whatever you can defend him Sakura, but I’m not gonna let the guy be an asshole to me when he’s been Mr. Antisocial for his entire life.” Kiba shoved his hands in his pockets and led the way back to the cabins. The boys and girls branched off to their respective housing to gather their things for the annual campfire the counselors held. Kiba grabbed his backpack, which clinked suspiciously as he carried it outside and Gaara brought along the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers the camp provided. Whenever the campfire happened, the three adults in charge mysteriously vanish from the campgrounds, leaving them to do as they pleased for the night.

 

In small groups, they made the trek to fire-pit clearing, a field isolated near the teepee valley in the forest. The years of lighting fires had scorched the grass long ago, leaving a massive ring of dirt for future fire-pits without the threat of a forest fire.

Naruto helped Kiba and Lee set up the fire while the others assembled the food and drinks on the small picnic table. Once the fire really started to crackle to life, the sun had long set and left them surrounded by darkness. Naruto could see the flashes of light where the other groups used their phones to light the way through the trees.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Neji emerged from the forest with bags and joined the others at the table.

“Oi Naruto.” Kiba handed him a cup and raised an eyebrow. “Get drinkin’ we got quite a night ahead of us.”

“R-right…” Naruto took the cup and took a tentative sip out of it. The tequila hit him before anything else could, and he visibly recoiled from its taste with a betrayed look directed at his offending friend.

“Let’s start our annual circle games!” Kiba raised his cup and summoned the others over. “Everyone pour yourself a cup and don’t be skimpy with it! Getcha asses in a circle and let’s go!”

“So bossy!” Ino quipped back from across the fire, but they all came over to sit around the fire. Kiba led them all with the deadly game of “never have I ever”, which led to Naruto learning things about his friends that he hoped he wouldn’t be able to remember in the morning. He tried to avoid Sai’s creepy stares and suggestive comments and drowned away his discomfort with three mixed drinks, courtesy of Kiba. By the time they started spin the bottle, everyone was pretty plastered, and Kiba couldn’t even spin the bottle properly to begin the game.

They all watched the bottle spin in drunken stupor. The bottle landed between Kiba and Neji, earning a round of applause from the other players.

“Are you kidding me.” Neji stared at the bottle as if he were imagining things, and he didn’t have time to respond when Kiba pulled him into a quick sloppy kiss.

 

Sakura spun next, and Naruto wished in the back of his mind that it would land on him. Instead, it spun past him to land on Lee, who nearly exploded with joy. His happiness was almost as bright as the fire behind them, and Naruto could only chuckle over his drink as Lee’s dream came true. The game continued and Naruto was lucky to only have to share a kiss with Kiba, which had unfortunately happened enough times for neither of them to mind, and when it came to be Gaara’s turn Naruto stood to excuse himself. He watched the bottle land on Sai and the horror that crossed Gaara’s face was enough to leave him cackling into the night air.

“Come here lover boy.” Naruto heard Sai coo as he walked away from the fire and Sakura’s laughter echoed off the trees as Naruto went a little off the path.

He had priorities right now.

First, he emptied his bladder. Next, he picked up his cup and wandered towards the teepee valley. He kept his balance by grabbing onto nearby trees for support and tried his best not to trip over any roots on his way. While he was good at navigating the camp at dark, doing it drunk was a completely different matter altogether, and he only had one person to blame for all of this.

The boy in question sat at the entrance of one of the teepees, legs crossed as he stared down at his phone and absentmindedly sipped at his drink. If he weren’t so pale, his dark features would have allowed him to blend into the darkness effortlessly.

“Hey asshole.” Naruto called from the trees.

Sasuke slowly looked up, unamused.

“What do you want?” He put his phone down as Naruto approached him. “Shouldn’t you be playing with your friends?”

“Shouldn’t you be playing with us? Why are you being so…” Naruto hiccupped, “…antisocial?”

“You’re drunk already?” Sasuke quipped as he raised a perfect dark brow. “You should call it a day before you make more of a fool out of yourself than you normally do.”

Naruto ground his teeth at the remark. He didn’t understand what Sasuke’s problem was. If he didn’t want to be social, why the hell would he come back to camp where you had absolutely _no privacy_?

_You should be trying to connect with the others._

“Where the hell have you been, Sasuke?” Naruto ended up asking instead. He could blame it on his drunk and scattered thoughts, but the question begged to be answered.

Sasuke took a long sip of his drink and regarded Naruto curiously.

“What’s it to you?”

“YOU–” Naruto stepped forward and grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt. To his surprise, he was able to lift Sasuke to his feet and held him close with a deadly glare. “Right after graduation you vanish! Y-you just change your phone number and that’s it? You didn’t care to tell me? All year I was worried about you, asshole! I wanted to talk to you about school, about girls, about _anything_ , but you…” Naruto’s anger simmered down to nearly nothing before he knew it, and he let Sasuke go with a defeated sigh.

“You didn’t even care.”

Sasuke stared at him with wide eyes, but no other emotion registered on his face. He was silent for a few excruciating moments, and Naruto took it as a chance to finish his drink. He crushed the cup in his hand, the loud sound filling the space between them, and waited for Sasuke’s reply.

“You wanted to talk to me about school and girls?” Sasuke had the nerve to scoff. Naruto returned his stare with a deadly look. “What made you think that I had anything to say about school or had any interest in women?”

It was true that Sasuke excelled at everything he did. In school, Naruto was no match for Sasuke’s Dean’s List reputation or his witty responses in class. The only thing he had on Sasuke’s head was his athletic ability, which only put them on equal footing despite Naruto’s position on the varsity baseball team his entire four years of high school. Naruto had also seen Sasuke turn down dozens if not hundreds of girls over the years, earning the title as the Stone Cold Heartbreaker of Konoha High. As usual, Sasuke was overlooking everything that Naruto was saying and using it against him; if Naruto were sober, he wouldn’t have been as frustrated because it was something he would have expected.

“It didn’t have to be about that! Like I said, I was worried!”

“Why would you be worried about me?” Sasuke finished his drink and followed Naruto’s gesture, crushing it in his hand with a satisfying crunch.

“Because you aren’t social and you don’t like to participate in things…I was worried you wouldn’t make any friends…” Naruto dropped his gaze. He was starting to regret coming out here. He should’ve just stayed in the game and risked being kissed by Sai, yet here he was making a fool out of himself in front of Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke laughed.

Naruto felt his face burn, and he had a feeling it wasn’t because of the booze getting to his head. He tried to make out the shape of the flowers beneath his feet, but it was too dark for him to do so.

“I changed my phone number because it leaked out during prom.” Sasuke said after he finally finished laughing. His voice was surprisingly warm, and it made Naruto look up warily.

“It leaked out?”

“I feel like Sakura had something to do with it.” Sasuke crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “I had girls from different schools trying to meet up with me, it was a pain in the ass so I changed my number.”

Naruto stared at him in confusion.

“I guess I forgot to tell you.” Sasuke smirked at the blonde’s expression. “And I didn’t vanish. I was around, I just didn’t go to Konoha University like most of the stupid population of our school.”

So, Sasuke hadn’t been avoiding him?

Naruto found himself smiling, and he was too happy to be embarrassed by it. Sasuke’s smirk threatened to slip off his face when he saw Naruto’s face light up; the authenticity seemed too bright for Sasuke to handle.

Naruto clapped a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.

“Heheh…after all this time I thought you were avoiding me…” Naruto let out a relieved sigh and gave Sasuke’s shoulder a hard pat. “If you ever go disappearing like that again I’m going to kick your ass!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Is that a threat?”

Naruto met his gaze with a wicked smile.

“Oh Sasuke, it’s a promise.” He turned away before he could see Sasuke’s reaction. As he approached the path, he called to Sasuke from over his shoulder. “Now get your ass over to the campfire before I drag you!”

He waited until he heard Sasuke’s footsteps following behind him, and the two slowly made their way back to the group, which had dispersed around the field. Some were pouring new drinks while others were roasting marshmallows on sticks.

“Naru’s back!” Kiba waved to him from the fire. “Hurry Choji’s fat ass is gonna eat all of the s’more–”

Kiba’s face morphed into pure fear when he realized his slip of tongue. Shikamaru’s head whipped towards Kiba fast enough to make an audible _crack_ as Choji stormed past him.

“What did you call me Kiba?”

“Ah, no, Choji I didn’t mean–I mean…haha…who said that?” Kiba quickly looked away and picked at his stick in panic. “Gaara do you know who said that?”

The glare of the fire painted Gaara’s face like a terrifying mask, emphasizing the bags under his eyes. It looked as though a part of his soul had flown south for the winter since Naruto had last seen him.

“Not a clue.” He responded in a monotone.

“That’s what I thought.” Choji hummed in affirmation and stalked back over to Shikamaru at the table.

“Lucky you Sasuke you almost witnessed a murder.” Naruto elbowed him in the ribs, earning him a smack on the head. “Ow, fuck!”

“Watch yourself or you’ll be the one being murdered.” Sasuke muttered and left his side, approaching the table where he was quickly welcomed by Sakura and Ino.

Naruto figured he didn’t have to worry about Sasuke that much after all. Even if he was antisocial and rude, he was ridiculously good-looking, and that was a free pass for anything in this world. Sasuke simply had to use his charm to get what he wanted, and he didn’t need to be nice to do it.

But it was nice to see him as part of the group. He wanted all of his friends to be included; that was the purpose of camp, and he’d damn well work his hardest to make this summer a memorable one.

Before heading back to the cabins, Naruto found himself roped into another round of shots with Kiba and Neji, which led to Sakura having to assist him in navigating the path back.

“I can’t believe you let them pour you more shots.” Sakura growled as they tripped over another log. She was far from being sober herself, and dragging along a hundred-sixty pound nineteen-year-old boy was far from easy. “Next time I’m leaving you in the field so the raccoons can eat your eyes out of your head.”

“I’m sorry…” Naruto said for the millionth time as the cabin came into view. He wasn’t the only one being helped. Neji had to carry TenTen on his back, despite being drunker than she was, and Lee helped Shikamaru and Choji down the hill to the best of his ability. Sasuke remained in the back of the group, watching all of their downfalls with a new drink of his own in his hand.

Smug bastard.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief when his feet reached the porch to their cabin. He could ignore the swarm of insects around the porch light for the moment and pretend that everything was perfect. He thanked Sakura again before stumbling to his bed and ultimately, face-planting onto his comforter. He kicked off his shoes, but he didn’t bother to go any further. He heard the others shuffle into the cabin, but as soon as he rolled into the center of his bed, Naruto fell asleep.

* * *

 

The next morning Naruto was rudely awakened to the sound of someone pounding on the front door, which echoed through the building. To make it worse, Guy’s voice blasted through their windows as he made the morning wake-up call with his speakerphone.

Naruto groaned in pure agony and tried to suffocate the sound with a pillow over his face. When the pounding wouldn’t stop, Naruto forced himself to sit up and found that the room was still spinning.

“ALRIGHT WE GET IT!” Kiba roared out the window. His hair stood up in all directions and his shirt hung halfway off his body as he stood at the window and shouted for Guy to cut it out.

“What time is it…?” Naruto yawned. He tried to ignore the gross taste of booze and graham crackers that he didn’t remember eating.

“Almost eleven.” Lee finished making his bed and stood fully clothed at the door. “I’m going to make sure the others are getting up for breakfast!”

“At least someone’s chipper this morning.” Kiba grumbled as he returned to his bed. He threw off his shirt and shuffled through his clothes for a clean one. When he noticed Naruto’s lack of movement, he spared the blonde an impatient glance. “If you don’t get a move-on sunshine, there won’t be any bacon left for your ass.”

Naruto quickly followed Kiba’s lead and changed into new clothes without another warning. He felt disgusting, but he would tackle that later and after he had put something in his stomach. He followed Kiba out of the cabin and towards the mess hall. They caught sight of Sakura and Hinata just reaching the doors and Choji nearly running to catch up with them to be first in line.

 

Kiba and Naruto claimed a table far, far away from the massive windows in the mess hall in an attempt to avoid the direct sunlight from hitting their eyes, but it did little to dull the ache in their skulls.

Naruto drowned his despair with maple syrup and butter. He fought past the urge to throw up and swallowed down the breakfast served to them. He and his friends ate in silence; they all picked at their food with varying degrees of disgust and fought their hangovers with endless glasses of water.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked absolutely fine. He ate his breakfast with ease, and he met Naruto’s occasional glares with an amused smirk. Kakashi and Guy didn’t question their employee’s sudden plummet in mood, and their ignorance was greatly appreciated.

After breakfast, Kakashi led them all to the camp store across the pathway. They were greeted by Kurenai, the manager of the shop, and wandered to check out the new merchandise. Kakashi remained in the back of the store, chatting with her while Naruto and the others examined the new T-shirts and mugs. There was a new stock of candy and then there were the essentials like bug spray and sun lotion, but Naruto only cared about one thing.

He rushed the cooler in the corner of the store and peered inside with hope flickering in his heart.

“Oh fuck yes.” Naruto hissed under his breath, earning Kiba and Shikamaru’s attention.

“What is it?” they both asked in unison.

Naruto opened the cooler and silently held up a package of ChocoTacos, an elated smile on his face.

“I ordered those just for you Naruto.” Kurenai called to him from the counter, her crimson eyes kind and inviting as always. “I remember you throwing a fit because we stopped selling them.”

“I love you Kurenai!” Naruto hugged the ice cream close to his chest and fought the urge to cry tears of joy.

“You can have that one for free.” She added.

“Does this mean we’re getting married?” Naruto asked her suspiciously.

He was quickly shut down.

“No.” Kurenai snickered, causing Kakashi to laugh at him too. Naruto wanted to throw in a comment about Kakashi’s single life but decided to spare the man the embarrassment for now.

He and his friends wandered the shop a few more moments before heading back to their cabins. Naruto ate his new prize on the way back, savoring the way the ice cream simply melted in his mouth instead of his hands like it used to. Sasuke walked beside him, eyeing the package in his hand with what looked like disgusted suspicion.

“Don’t you dare judge me.” Naruto warned him. “These things make life worth living.”

“I’m sure I can go without.” Sasuke wrinkled his nose.

“That’s why your life is so bleak man.” After a beat of hesitation, Naruto held out his ChocoTaco to Sasuke. “Once you try it, I’ll let you say whatever you want about it, but you have to at least try it.”

Sasuke gave Naruto an incredulous look. His eyes went from the ice cream to Naruto’s face, and back again.

Naruto raised his arm impatiently. “Come on.”

Slowly, Sasuke leant forward towards his hand. He suddenly took a massive bite out it and retreated out of Naruto’s swiping range.

“Sasuke what the fuck?!” Naruto gaped at the small remainders of his ice cream before directing his fury on the culprit.

“Who the hell doesn’t like ice cream, idiot.” Sasuke quipped back with a shit-eating smile. “Don’t be so easy to trust people.”

“It’s assholes like you that ruin people’s trust!” Naruto shouted back.

“Good thing we have two days to get all of our swearing out before we get the campers.” Kiba appeared at Naruto’s side with a tired sigh. He looked at the remainders of Naruto’s ice cream and shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t even know how you’re eating that. I’m still thinking about puking up breakfast.”

“My stomach only has room for certain things.” Naruto said sadly before taking his last bite and balling the wrapper in his fist.

The rest of the day was considered siesta for the counselors. It was their last chance at relaxation and down time before the campers moved in tomorrow at eleven a.m.

Honestly, Naruto wasn’t ready.

As he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling fan above him, he worried what his group was going to be like. He had never handled the older age groups before, and he had just started getting used to the younger kids. His age group was the puberty age, where kids were bratty and, well, terrible, and there were so many possible ways things could go.

_No Naruto, you’ve been in the game for nine years, you can handle this_.

It couldn’t be that bad. If he’d handled Sasuke since elementary school, he was sure he could handle some preteens in ninety-degree weather.

He just had to keep his cool.

But right now, he was going to focus on keeping down his breakfast.

The rest of the guys had, as Naruto and Kiba had, retreated to their rooms in an attempt to catch up on sleep. Yet somehow, Naruto was too exhausted to pass out; that wasn’t the case for Kiba or Lee, who lightly snored in their beds while Naruto tried not to rip his hair out in panic.

Things would be fine.

Tomorrow would be an easy day. The kids moved in, they did their introductions, and they hosted the play at night. While the kids ate lunch and got to know one another, they would all be rehearsing lines so that they didn’t make a fool out of themselves in front of a hundred campers.

Naruto groaned and wrapped himself in his blankets, hoping the absence of light would make him tired. Over time, Naruto could feel his eyelids droop with fatigue. He snuggled closer into his pillow and fell asleep.

Only to dream about Sasuke stealing his award as the “best counselor of the year” and his campers setting his underwear on fire.

The pre-session dreams at night had always been a little freaky.

Naruto could only hope it wasn’t foreshadowing.


	2. Flower Crowns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 of camp and Naruto already has to deal with awkward encounters with Sasuke, including, but not limited to, performing in the usual camp musical together, and setting their new campers against each other. Who knows what other shenanigans this summer will bring…

Today was the day.

Naruto could feel the excitement bubbling in his chest as he bounced on his feet, listening to Kakashi give his final orders before the counselors would take over. They stood in a long line at the front of the mess hall, sporting their team colors and put on determined faces as they prepared for the first session of camp to finally start. Naruto could see the kids being directed to their cabins by courtesy of Yamato, Guy, and Shikamaru from the windows of the building, and it was only a matter of time before they ended up here.

“As soon as introductions are over, the kids have lunch and you all report to the lecture building to rehearse.” Kakashi cast a quick look around the room and sighed. “I suggest you grab something quick to eat since you might not have time later. I’m going to assist the others.”

“Roger that!” Naruto saluted with the others and watched Kakashi walk out the massive wooden doors.

“Are you constipated or something?”

Naruto turned to see Sasuke glaring at him in what looked like annoyance.

“Nah I actually pooped great today, thanks for asking.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Well you keep squirming around and it’s annoying.”

“Am I not allowed to be excited?”

“No.” Sasuke stretched, his eyes wandering to the windows in front of them. “It’s going to be a long session.”

It sounded like Sasuke was dreading the incoming campers.

Naruto didn’t respond; they all had different ways of dealing with the stress that came with every influx of kids at camp. For Naruto, his anxiety made him excited and, as Sasuke had pointed out, squirmy. Others, like Sasuke, could only feel nervous and annoyed at what was coming next.

For the next half-hour, the counselors chatted amongst themselves until the mess hall doors opened once again. Around fifty children followed Kakashi and Guy into the building, and a round of amazed “oohs” and “aahs” went around the group as they took in the giant building and its decorations.

There were a lot of fresh faces. Naruto could recognize a few familiar faces from last year, some of them were waving to him from the group, but it looked like the first session was going to be a batch of camp newbies. It was going to be their job to make sure that their camp experience was one of the best things they’d remember from the summer; Naruto was ready to make the commitment. He wanted every child to love camp as much as he did, to see it as something special and irreplaceable from their childhood that they couldn’t ever forget.

Naruto had made most of his friends through camp. He hadn’t been too successful at socializing in school considering he transferred into Konoha Academy mid-way through third-grade, and his parents decided to put him into the local camping program in hope that their son would make some new connections. There at camp Naruto had met his soon-to-be best friend Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, Sakura, and Sasuke; the school years after camp became so much easier when they all ended up being classmates together, and Naruto continued to pick up new friends along the way every time he returned to camp. He held a deep connection to this place, and there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he’d let it get shut down due to understaffing or because a greasy prick wanted to buy it off their hands.

“Campers, these are your fellow counselors this summer!” Guy provided the necessary energy for the tour; otherwise Kakashi would be giving it to them in his usual monotone. “We’re going to go down the line and do introductions! Pay close attention because one of them is going to be your overseer for the rest of the program!”

Sai was the first to start. His plastic smile held through to the very end of his speech, but Naruto could only hope that the counselors were the only one to see it as fake. The kids last year somehow loved Sai, as if the pale bastard suddenly came to life when he was surrounded by younger people who couldn’t see through his bullshit.

Naruto didn’t hesitate when it was his turn to go next; he could feel the curious gazes from the crowd and it reminded him of how much he truly loved this job.

“The names Naruto Uzumaki and I’m the leader of the orange team!” Naruto gestured to his orange T-shirt and gave his signature smile. “This year I’m in charge of the oldest age group and I love ramen and chocotacos! Nice to meet you guys!” His speech earned a nice amount of kids calling his name and he heard enough people call him cool to boost his ego for the rest of the night.

Unfortunately, there always had to be _someone_ who would have to outdo him in _every_ possible way.

“I’m Sasuke Uchiha and I lead the blue team. I’m also in charge of the older age group, but I’m known for leading my team to victory.” Sasuke spared Naruto a small smirk. “I like healthier things like walking on the beach and zen yoga, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Naruto bit his tongue to stop himself from cussing Sasuke out. _Zen yoga? Is he fucking serious?!_

The group of children in front of them, who applauded after every introduction, broke into quiet murmurings and squeals of Sasuke’s name. The word thrown around the group for him was ‘hot’.

Sasuke was the coldest person in the room, but of course the kids would never know that. He didn’t spare Naruto another glance for the rest of the introductions, and Naruto had to fight to keep the confident and friendly grin on his face.

When it was time to leave, Naruto and the counselors snuck to the front of the line to grab tamales to go and darted out the main doors before the kids could corner them into conversation. As they made their way towards the lecture hall, Naruto could only hope that the play would run smoothly and not end up being a train wreck like it had the last time he and Sasuke had been on the same stage. They had been lucky their sly insults and fighting on stage was all seen as part of the act and not as serious at it had been, and Naruto had been especially lucky that he missed the fire pit when Sasuke had kicked him off the stage. Things would go smoothly this year. Naruto was going to get a better role that suited his character and make him charming to the audience this year.

 

* * *

 

 

“I have to play the bear again?!” Naruto stared down at his copy of the script in horror. The others ignored him, focusing on the lines they had to memorize in less than three hours before the performance.

“You should be grateful; you have the least lines.” Kiba handed Naruto the dreaded costume with a toothy grin. “All ya gotta do is grunt, stumble around and look cute. Also, if you read further into the script you get to maul a certain pretty face…”

Naruto slipped through the pages as quickly as his fingers would let him. Sure enough, near the end of the play he has to attack Sasuke on the mountain.

“But…he kills me…”

“So? You get your fun.” Kiba flipped over his script and sighed. “I’m the narrator so I have the most lines, but at least I can read them off the page…”

With a groan, Naruto dropped his script on the chair beside him and picked up the bear head he’d have to wear. He hated this thing; it made him sweat a shit ton and he couldn’t even see out of it properly. He supposed it wasn’t all bad, but he was always made to play the bear in their little skits…he didn’t know if he should be offended or not.

An hour or so before the play was supposed to begin, Naruto and his friends moved to the outer stage and started prepping it for the performance. Sai set up his hand painted trees and mountain backgrounds while Ino helped with the stage props. Sakura stood as the make-up and costume artist back stage, but she mostly focused on making sure Sasuke’s costume was as flawless as he was. She adjusted his hat, made sure his backpack hung at the perfect angle, and fluffed his hair as if it needed it. Sasuke ignored her over-pampering by running over his lines for the millionth time.

Naruto skimmed the script, considering he didn’t have any lines per se aside from roaring and growling at people, he only needed to know his cues to come out and what he needed to do. Sai had forced him into the bear suit for rehearsal, but he hadn’t been in it for more than ten minutes and he was working up a sweat. He held the bear head under his arm and practiced walking around with the bear paws on his feet. When they were bringing the actors on stage, Naruto lumbered (he couldn’t walk properly in the oversized costume) over to Sasuke and gave him a smug grin.

“You ready to get your ass mauled tonight?” he wiggled his eyebrows in an attempt to get a reaction from the fair-skinned boy.

“Are you ready to get slaughtered?” Sasuke held his fake knife up to Naruto’s throat and gave him a dangerous look. “When it comes to nature, man always wins. Know your place, animal.”

With that, Sasuke went on stage to start the opening scenes with Sai, Gaara, and TenTen, the three visitors to the mountain cottage in search of adventure from the well-renowned climber played by Sasuke. The play focused on the four of them making their way up the snow-covered mountain, being constantly warned by mountain people and animals not to go to the summit since that was the home of the forest’s guardian bear, played by none other than Uzumaki himself. The play didn’t have much of a message aside from ‘mountains are dangerous’, ‘you should listen to warnings’, and ‘don’t intrude on nature’, but the kids liked it every time they did it, so it must be amusing in some ways. What made Naruto laugh behind the scenes was the fact that there were songs imbedded into the performance, meaning Sasuke’s prissy ass was going to have to sing again this year for the audience. Musicals wasn’t their forte but a song or two in the play helped keep attention where it was needed.

Once their rehearsal ended, the actors retreated backstage in time to hear the voices of children approaching the outside seating arena, which was set to curve around a massive fire pit a few yards from the front of the stage. Kakashi and Guy worked to light the fire as the sun was beginning to set, and the benches quickly began to fill up as the kids started to take their seats.

“It’s show time.” Neji popped his head out of the sound booth. “Music and everything is set and ready to go, Lee how are lights?”

“Bright and focused!”

“…right. Actors are you ready? I’m starting the intro music.” Neji didn’t wait for a response. He ducked back into the room and shut the door without another word.

“Jesus.” Kiba let out a shaky sigh before taking his spot at the podium backstage, hidden from view outside but angled for him to be able to see the stage clearly. He adjusted the microphone and cleared his throat before turning it on. Naruto stood beside him to watch the stage as well, his eyes scanning the crowd in amusement.

“ _Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce that this year is Camp Konoha’s sixty-fourth anniversary. We’ve been cranking out plays for you guys for over six decades now, but this one is a classic that I’m sure many of us know and love. It’s a story about adventure, friendship, and forgiveness, truly a tale for every generation. We present to you: Love is the One with Claws_.”

The audience broke into applause and Rock Lee dimmed the lights as the music grew louder. TenTen, Gaara, and Sai walked onto the stage mid-conversation and quickly set up the play’s carefree and humored atmosphere. As long as the kids were laughing, that meant they were doing the job right, and Kiba maintained the pace of the play despite rolling his eyes at nearly every line someone said.

The audience cheered when Sasuke made his debut, and Naruto could hear the confidence in his voice as he delivered his lines perfectly to the audience.

The play went on smoothly, characters moved on and off the stage to present their lines or sing their parts, and Naruto’s debut was coming up. Sakura helped him stuff his head into the bear costume and adjusted it so he could see out of the little eye holes enough to not run into anything.

“ _…It was at that time our fair explorer realized he was being watched. A formidable presence was coming from the trees behind him, and as soon as he could turn around…_ ”

Naruto stepped out onto the brightly lit stage and lingered in the bushes with his eyes trained on Sasuke. Neji played the suspenseful sound effects and the audience gasped in horror as Naruto moved closer to stand behind Sasuke.

“S-sir watch out! The bear!” TenTen screamed and stumbled back with Sai. Gaara held his fake torch in horror as he looked at the monster before them.

Sasuke slowly turned to look into Naruto’s eyes, and despite the fact that Sasuke was acting scared, it made Naruto smile behind the mask.

“Run!” Sasuke shouted to the others, and they dispersed across the stage, leaving Sasuke to face the bear alone. He ducked a swipe Naruto made at him, and held his blade level with the creature’s chest.

Kiba’s voice sounded ominous from the speakers overhead.

“ _It was at this time that the explorer knew…he was in a kill or be killed situation.”_

“Stand down bear.” Sasuke warned as Naruto stepped closer.

Naruto growled back in what would be translated as _fuck you_ in bear language.

“I don’t want to have to kill you!”

“ _The bear was here to protect its home from outsiders. To keep man away from its family and prevent the destruction of nature. Unfortunately, man and animal speak different tongues, and our explorer failed to understand the situation…”_

Naruto charged Sasuke, swiping and clawing at the boy until his clothes tore at the chosen spots and fake blood spread across his ivory skin. Of course, Naruto came at the boy with all he had and the two wrestled across the stage for a few moments until Naruto felt a sharp object strike his ribcage.

With an extremely realistic utterance of pain, Naruto crumpled to the ground in a heap of fur and remained still as Sasuke stood to brush himself off.

_He actually fucking stabbed me._

Naruto could feel the pain throbbing in his side where Sasuke had thrust his plastic blade a lot harder than he had in rehearsal, and he regretted not trying to claw the guy’s eyes out when he had the chance.

“You killed it?” Sai walked back on stage with the others and they regarded the bear’s body warily. “I don’t think…we should have done that…”

Thunder sounded through the stage and Lee darkened the lights to signify the incoming storm.

The three adventurers left again, leaving Sasuke to stand before the audience covered in blood.

“ _Immediate guilt washed over the man once he realized what he had done. He had taken the life of one of nature’s most precious creatures, and in turn he had taken the life from part of himself. His soul felt hollow, his heart grew heavy, and with a pained breath…”_

Sasuke approached Naruto and ran his hands over Naruto’s fur.

Naruto hadn’t read into the details of the script, so he had no idea what Sasuke was doing. This was different from the other versions of this play, and he didn’t know what to do with Sasuke stroking his back.

“I can’t believe that I was so stupid…” Sasuke’s voice was pained and full of guilt. “I took your life without considering the fact that you were just trying to defend what was yours.”

Neji cued the sad music and the thunder grew louder.

“Forgive me bear! There’s nothing more than I can do aside from atoning for my sins!”

_“The man sat in the rain with that bear for what seemed like hours. He waited for a sign, from who he was not sure, but he sought forgiveness for his actions. Abandoned in the mountains, our explorer could only cry for the poor creature in front of him, and as soon as he was about to abandon all hope and merge into the darkness…”_

The lights grew brighter and there was the sound of chirping birds.

Sasuke looked around the stage in confusion, and Naruto took his cue to push himself onto all fours with a pained grunt before forcing himself to stand at full height.

The audience began to cheer at the bear’s revival, as they normally did, and Naruto trained a level gaze on the shocked man in front of him.

_“In front of the man stood a miracle…and a second chance at redemption. Nature’s forgiveness showed itself in the face of a bear, a creature capable of the strongest love and adoration.”_

“I’m so sorry.” Sasuke slowly stood up and kicked his blade away. It spun across the wooden floor and flew off the stage. “I’ll never bother this land again! Can you forgive me?”

_Like hell I will._

Naruto cocked his head to his side and made a less threatening stance.

_“The bear found comfort in the man’s words and found it in his heart to accept his apology. Before the man could turn away, the bear approached him to pull him into a warm and friendly embrace.”_

Naruto blinked at Kiba’s words. Another thing he didn’t read in the script…he must have skimmed over it on accident when he was breezing through his parts!

He hesitated in front of Sasuke, who narrowed his eyes at Naruto in what seemed like daring intimidation. This was awkward. They faced each other in silence as Naruto slowly approached Sasuke in dread.

Kiba’s voice came out a little annoyed. “ _I said, the bear approached him to pull him into a warm and friendly embrace!”_

The audience broke into laughter at that. Naruto swallowed his pride and pulled Sasuke into a massive bear hug, crushing the boy into his chest with a slight attempt to suffocate him in the bear’s mangy fur. Sasuke lightly pat his back, but when he started losing his precious air supply he strategically landed a punch in Naruto’s stomach, forcing him to jump away from Sasuke as the other actors came back out onto the stage.

_“It was then a friendly pact was made between man and nature. Both would exist in harmony without harming the other, and the love of the wild that couldn’t be tamed remained in the guardian of the mountain summit…”_

The audience jumped out of their seats as they applauded, and the actors took their respective bows. The kids started to chant at Naruto, “take it off, take it off!” in regards to his mask, and he humored them by pulling it off his head. He shook out his sweaty hair and waved to the audience as they erupted in delighted screams when they realized it had been Naruto the entire time.

As the counselors filed off the stage, Guy and Kakashi took over, leading the kids through camp etiquette and some campfire songs to wrap up the night. Naruto and the others were dismissed to shower and go to bed for the rest of the night, but the only thing Naruto truly cared about at the moment was taking off his cursed bear suit.

“Dude they really loved you this year.” Kiba laughed as he helped unzip the back of the costume.

“They better! Being the bear isn’t easy!” Naruto realized he was breathing a little heavily as he freed himself from the heavy suit. He frowned at how damp his T-shirt and shorts were; it was like he’d fallen in the lake and never got to change.

“Was it just me or did this seem more like a love story between the man and the bear than anything else?” Kiba stared at the bear head in deep thought before shrugging. “Whatever it got the job done.”

Naruto wasn’t listening to him; he was finally free and he a one-track mind.

His plan was to go straight to the showers and then to bed. They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow, and Naruto planned on making it count.

* * *

 

The morning horn blared through the campsite, signaling the start of the new day and beginning of wake-up roll-call. Although the counselors are usually awake by eight, the campers aren’t expected out of their cabins until nine. They followed the usual procedure of getting dressed, eating breakfast, morning activities, and so on; however, today was the exception with mandatory activity voting and swim tests. For Naruto and the others, today was their easiest day.

All of them had showered and gotten dressed in their signature colors for the grouping. The activity leaders wore the green camp Konoha polos, which everyone technically owned, but in order to keep track of their kids they kept the groups color coordinated.

“Alright guys! It’s only day two don’t give up yet!” Kiba clapped his hands together as he watched Shikamaru and Guy knock on the doors to each cabin. He turned around to give the rest of the guys a hearty grin. “The goal is to not let any kids drown or get lost today!”

“I think you’re the only one thinking about giving up, Kiba.” Neji tied his long hair into a bun and sported his bright “Konoha Lifeguard” shirt that matched Kiba’s. The two were going to be in charge of the swimming tests in the afternoon, which prompted Naruto to sport his favorite orange swim trunks under his shorts. He had to prepared if he needed to jump in the water for either emergencies or for fun.

Today was the day things finally started to come together. Naruto was assigned his first group of eight kids for the two weeks, and from now on it was up to him to make sure they were having as much fun as they could.

They all filed out the door to head to their respective rendezvous points. Gaara represented the red team this year, Sai was green, Naruto was orange, Sasuke was blue, and Hinata would be leading purple. Once the t-shirts were handed out, the camp site was going to be speckled with colors to represent each team.

Naruto’s spot was a little off the path that led to the bathrooms; up the small hill was a random picnic table Naruto used to play board games on when the weather was nice. He took a seat on it and ran over his attendance sheet along with the day’s agenda. He was hoping for a set of interesting or funny kids, but he didn’t really know what to expect with his new pre-teen age group. Anything goes with kids nowadays, but Naruto was good at catching up to them. Even if they were middle-schoolers. Maybe.

Slowly, but surely, kids started making their way to him in their small pairings of twos and threes. Naruto waved to them enthusiastically, encouraging them to make it up the hill a little faster with excited grins of their own.

“Good mornin’!”

“Good morning!” they called back.

As they got closer, Naruto was slightly taken aback by how small they were. Of course, he’d been dealing with younger and smaller children the years before, but the older age group didn’t feel much different. At five-eleven, Naruto knew he was going to tower over them, but damn children were weird creatures.

He did a quick head count of the available kids. He had six out of the eight.

“How did you guys sleep for the first night? The beds kind of suck, don’t they?”

The kids laughed at his honesty, and it fueled their conversations for the moment. He managed to get the kids to relax a little and simply have an easy chat while he waited for the remaining duo to make their appearance.

He didn’t have to wait too long.

A boy jogged up the hill with a small girl in tow, and she seemed to be struggling with the pace before they were even halfway up the hill.

“Looks like we finally got our group together.” Naruto hopped off the picnic table and smiled at the two late kids. “Did you guys get lost?”

“Yeah…we went to the bathroom and ended up going to the lake…” the boy wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Naruto a shy smile, “sorry we’re late!”

“Nah you’re fine I completely understand! I’ve been here for years and I still get turned around all the time.” Naruto’s response made the girl heave out a sigh of relief. The two joined the rest of the group at the picnic table and Naruto moved to stand in front of it. “Alright guys, as most of you probably know, I’m Naruto and I’m going to be your counselor for the next two weeks! We’ve got a lot of stuff we’re going to get to do and I can’t wait to show you guys how great camp Konoha is. We’re the orange team, which is the best you can get here, and the goal is to beat the other teams in competitions for prizes and rankings.”

The kids nodded in affirmation, their eyes trained on him like lasers. At least their concentration was top-notch.

“I’m going to do a quick roll call, so when you hear your name you can just raise your hand or yell at me.” Naruto cleared his throat before starting, “Ren?”

The tallest boy in the group raised his hand. “Here.”

“Kanae?”

“Here.” The boy next to Ren raised an arm.

“Sora?”

“Here!”

“Aki?”

“Here.”

“Risa?”

“Here!”

“Tatsuhiro?”

“Here…”

“Leo?”

“Here!” the late boy raised his hand energetically.

“And Mina?”

The girl who came with Leo raised her hand with a small smile. “I’m here.”

Naruto marked all of them present and shut his book with a satisfied smile. “Perfect. Now do any of you have any questions about the groups before I start babbling about today’s schedule?”

The girl Sora shot a hand into the air. “So the other groups are like our enemies right? It’s a dog-eat-dog world in these events?”

Naruto could only laugh at her bluntness. “I wouldn’t say they’re your enemies. You should try to make as many friends here as you can, just don’t discuss group strategies with them and you should be fine! When we’re in the events like capture the flag and tug-of-war, well yeah then I guess it can be brutal…”

“Oh okay!”

Her comment sparked a fire that Naruto had long thought he’d forgotten about. “Actually, there’s one team in particular that you have to be careful with. Their leader is sneaky, ruthless, and someone we cannot let win _at anything_.”

That caught his campers’ attention.

“Who is it? Which team?!” Leo jumped forward in anticipation, his eyes gleaming.

Naruto steeled his features into complete seriousness. “The blue team cannot win this competition. No matter what it takes, we will not let them step over us!”

“Sasuke’s team?” Sora lifted a dark eyebrow. “Do you two hate each other?”

“No we’re good friends, actually. This is healthy competition, and a good way to get the blood pumping don’t you think?”

Naruto remembered their first years as counsellors, and Sasuke had put his kids against Naruto from the start; Naruto didn’t understand why his kids were being targeted in the games, but once he figured out who was in charge, camp turned into war. Hopefully, it wouldn’t end up being an all-out blood bath like it was before.

“The only tasks we have today are deciding our weekly activities and the swimming tests. Before swimming you guys can eat breakfast and hang out a little, and after the tests the groups are meeting in the clearing just past this pathway. Of course, I’m going to take you there, and we’ll actually be taking this path a lot throughout the week since it leads to the archery range, rock climbing wall, and the teepee valley.”

“Whoa there’s a teepee valley?” Kanae finally spoke up in surprise. It was the expected response from the kids; while it was the campers’ favorite place to play, it also tended to be filled with beehives.

With that, Naruto led his group to the mess hall. He seemed to have timed everything pretty well, considering the other groups were also making their way down the dirt paths to the main road. Familiar campers waved to each other from across the grass, and Naruto exchanged a friendly wave with Gaara and his young group.

The first challenge was to successfully keep track of his kids. Naruto brought them to one of the back tables and rustled through the box with his name on it.

“Okay kiddos, throw on your lovely orange t-shirts and pledge allegiance with me!” Naruto handed out the orange t-shirts with the Konoha leaf symbol on the back to each of his campers, who tugged them over their heads eagerly. “Serve your loyalty to this team and help your fellow teammates! Play fair and honest! And respect one another! And…” Naruto trailed off when he forgot the last part. “Appreciate the importance of ramen!”

“What does ramen have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with _everything_ Sora. It keeps your counselor alive.” Naruto pointed to the stands scattered around the room. “Now we’re going to make our way to each table and learn about the activities offered here so we can make a decision as a group. Try to stay together, but if you lose someone look for the orange shirts, only we will be wearing them.”

“So what activities do these tables have?” Ren stepped forward with his hands in his pockets. Judging by the bored look the kid’s had since this morning, Naruto figured he was the “cool” type of kid. Nothing surprises, and nothing amuses him. Of course, he was relying on assumptions, but he could already tell that Ren was confident that camp was going to be a walk in the park.

“For example, in water activities you have a choice between swimming or log rolling, then there’s canoeing or kayaking. There’s archery or ultimate Frisbee, and we used to have the decision between rock climbing and zip lining, but we stopped zip lining years ago…”

“You had zip lining and stopped doing it?” Ren gave him a look that seemed to question Naruto’s general intelligence, as if he had made the decision himself.

“It’s a long story, but the camp decided in the end that it was better to not have it.” God forbid they had someone fall off the wire or some tragic thing happened on their watch.

Before the kids could ask any more questions, Naruto pushed them off.

“Go! Learn about stuff! My friends can tell you more about the activities you’re interested in.”

* * *

  

Luckily, the whole process went faster than Naruto thought it would.

His group was the first to make a final decision, and Naruto dismissed them to grab sandwiches and hang out in the courtyard until the other kids came. Naruto ran his marker along the different activities they collectively chose, pondering how the hell he was going to make it into a cohesive schedule. Archery, canoeing, log rolling, rock climbing, and fishing. These activities would take up the most of their weeks, unless there was rain, and weekends called for special activities as well.

Once he ran the schedules over with Kakashi and the other two groups, his orange team would be ready to go tomorrow. He was aiming for an early archery session to get it out of the way for hiking, the usual first activity they held, but Naruto tended to sweat way too much to be comfortable after a hiking session and he didn’t want to go to archery a stinking mess. He’d had his experiences.

Naruto grabbed a turkey sandwich and made his way over Kiba’s table. He was currently giving his usual speech about canoeing and how great it is to be out on the water, and Naruto dropped into the empty chair next to Kiba with a tired sigh.

“Hey guys.” Naruto nodded to the group of kids.

“Hi Naruto!” they waved back at him; he recognized a few faces among the crowd from his previous sessions.

“Need help selling canoeing?”

Kiba tilted his head back and let out a singular laugh that resembled a bark. “Nah I can do just fine without you, ya human highlighter.”

“Snarky.” Naruto nodded at Kiba’s new nickname. The kids got a kick out of it, and started to disperse back to their counselors to make their decisions. Sasuke and his group walked by, barely sparing them a glance. As his group went ahead to the kayaking table, Sasuke trailed behind to give Naruto a judging look.

“It isn’t even noon and you’re lazing around without your kids?”

Naruto took a bite of his sandwich and looked up thoughtfully. “I’ll have you know that my kids are smart and efficient. They finished our schedule a while ago. Why are you dragging your feet Sasuke? I thought your group would be done by now.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I’m in no hurry for this, the only other thing we have is the swim tests.”

With that, Sasuke followed after his group and ended conversation.

“You’re such a tease.” Kiba snickered. “He’s gonna come after you this session, so watch your back.”

“I’m a step ahead Kiba, always a step ahead.”

“You can’t bullshit me Naruto, you’re an idiot.” Kiba lowered his voice and gave Naruto a cocky smile. “This is going to be an interesting summer.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

By the time the last groups had finished their schedules, Naruto had sent his kids to change into their swimsuits and come back to join him on the deck. Gaara and Sai’s groups had finished somewhat early too, and they lined the piers while Neji and Kiba discussed how they were going to go about the tests.

Naruto explained to his kids that the swim test can end in three different results: one being the blue wristband, which meant the swimmer could swim out to the farthest marker in the lake if they chose to do so, and stood as a symbol for the strongest swimmer. The red band had restrictions in distance in the lake, but was still allowed in water over 6 feet, and the white band stood for no swimming over 4 feet. Depending on what bands his kids got, it determined what they would be limited to in water activities.

No one appeared to be intimidated by the tests, which was a good sign. Naruto took his step back and watched his kids go over to Kiba at the end of the dock. The heat made him shrug out of his t-shirt for the tests, and the sparkling water was looking pretty inviting to him.

A light hand touched Naruto’s shoulder, startling him into whipping around.

“How are your kids so far?” Sakura moved to stand beside Naruto and offered a warm smile. Naruto returned her smile and shrugged.

“They’re doing great so far, but honestly it’s too early to tell, you know?”

“That’s very true.” Sakura pulled her shoulder-length hair into a tight ponytail and regarded the kids around them. “Kiba and Neji have their hands full.”

The kids who waited for their turns to test splashed around in the shallow area, trying to get used to the water before jumping into the deep end. Sasuke and Sai’s group approached the lakefront, and Naruto was surprised to see the two in casual conversation with one another as their groups mingled. Sakura’s gaze locked onto Sasuke the moment his voice could be heard, and Naruto noticed the way she purposely dragged her eyes away from him. Sakura claimed that she had given up on Sasuke, but Naruto doubted that she was anywhere near over him. Hell, Naruto didn’t even know if he was over Sakura yet…the two had some weird flings in school, but it was casual hookups and nothing more.

“Are you and Sasuke going to duke it out again this summer?”

“Probably.”

“Eh…that’s so tiring…” Sakura looped an arm through his and beckoned Ino over. “Ino! Naruto’s kids are about to go!” As the other blonde approached them, Sakura’s other hand patted his stomach.

Naruto squirmed under her touch; he didn’t know if it was because her displays of affection made him uncomfortable, or because he was ticklish on his stomach. Sakura was a wild card with him, and Naruto wasn’t good with mixed signals.

“You’ve put on more muscle since I’ve seen you last!” Sakura exclaimed, and her comment led to Ino poking at his abs along with her.

Naruto proceeded to ignore them with a sigh, watching Leo and Mina jump into the deep end together and tread to the starting point.

The indescribable feeling of someone staring at him made him turn around again, just in time to see Sasuke turn away and lead his group towards Neji.

_Was he…staring at me?_

Naruto watched Sasuke help his kids into the water before returning to the deck where they all stood watch.

It must have been his imagination.

Sai wasn’t outside anymore, at least where Naruto could see him, so he figured it must not have been him…

“Sasuke!” Ino waved him over with a wide smile. “Have you been working out too?”

“No more than usual.” He replied somewhat coldly.

Naruto didn’t say anything; he simply watched Leo and Mina climb out of the water to be given their blue wristbands by Kiba. Naruto realized that they were siblings by their features and last name, and they were certainly very close. He just hoped that they didn’t rely on each other to the point where they don’t socialize with the others. Those two aside, it seemed like all of his kids had gotten blue bands and had moved to the shallow area to play. Normally he’d get a couple reds or even a white band in his groups, but he supposed the older groups were more likely to get blues than the younger ones.

Sakura and Ino chatted amongst themselves as they waited for the kids to finish testing, but Sasuke and Naruto stood in silence. Naruto didn’t mind, he didn’t have anything in particular that he wanted to say.

“Naruto! Come play with us!” Sora and Hana, a girl he had met last year, waved him over from the water.

“Coming!” he called back, but hesitated on the deck before leaving.

“What are you waiting for?” Sasuke asked him when Naruto turned to look at him.

“W-what? Nothing…I just…” Naruto took a step forward and wondered what the fuck was wrong with him. Why did he feel weird leaving him? “Are…do you want to come?”

Sasuke stared at him incredulously. “Why would I go with you?”

Right.

Score one for Naruto making a number one ass out of himself.

“Don’t know why I bothered to ask you.” Naruto muttered before leaving the deck. He hopped into the water with Sora and some kids from the other groups and proceeded to splash them until they screamed or darted out of the lake to get away.

 

 

After an hour or so, the counselors started gathering their kids for the last activity of the day. Naruto shrugged back into his orange t-shirt and grabbed one of the backpacks in the mess hall.

“Last chance for bathroom breaks!” Naruto called for the third time and proceeded to do another head count. Once everyone was accounted for, he led the way up the dirt path and into the forest. “Keep a buddy beside you at all times!”

The hike up to the clearing earned a healthy amount of groans and “are we there yet?” questions from his campers. One of his kids tripped on a log halfway up the path, but that was the only issue they had on their journey. Naruto noticed that Mina enjoyed picking up things along the way; sometimes she’d pick a flower, or pick up a rock or a large stick, and just carry it until she found something she liked better.

Once they reached the clearing, they all breathed out a sigh of relief and picked a spot in the grass to collapse.

“So what’s in the backpack?” Leo sat up and eyed it suspiciously.

“Probably food and water.” Naruto mused as he brought it around to open it up. It was a grab-bag for the counselors; Kakashi or Shikamaru would pack it with the picnic essentials and set it aside for them to grab on the way out. It was always a mystery what they were actually picking up.

Naruto handed out the small water bottles and laid out the snacks for them to choose from. They worked together to lay out the blankets, and watched the field quickly fill up with the rest of the campers.

“Naruto.” A familiar voice caught Naruto’s attention.

“Gaara!” the red-haired boy smiled down at him as his kids settled with Naruto’s. The two launched into comfortable conversation while their kids traded snacks across blankets. Kiba and Choji showed up with frisbees and soccer balls to occupy the kids for the next few hours, and slowly but surely Naruto realized most of the counselors had gathered around him, causing him to be surrounded by blankets and screaming kids.

The counselors all shared a blanket together, including  Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Neji, Lee, and Choji. Choji had managed to smuggle them more snacks from the kitchen, which they had to strategically hide from the kids whenever they came up to them to chat.

Naruto was mid-conversation with Hinata and Neji when Mina slowly approached him with her brother following behind her.

“You’ve got a guest, Naruto.” Sakura mused as soon as she noticed. “An adorable one, at that.”

“Hey Mina, what’s up?” Naruto smiled at her and invited her closer with the beckoning of his hand.

Aware that all eyes were on her, Mina’s face turned bright pink as she came up close with her hands behind her back.

“I…” her voice died somewhere half-way in her throat, forcing her to try again. “I made this for you!”

Before Naruto could respond, Mina placed the flower crown over his head and darted off back to her brother. She didn’t give him a chance to thank her before running back to the other kids; Naruto’s hand strayed up to touch the flowers he vaguely remembered seeing her pick up on the way here.

“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” Ino stared after her in shock. “Is that my child?”

Sakura pulled out her camera and snapped a photo of him before sliding it back into her bag. “Day one as her counselor and she already adores you.”

The gesture warmed his heart more than anything a camper had ever done for him. He had to say, the girl had guts coming all the way up to him, alone aside from her brother watching after her. He had to make sure he properly thanked her either tonight or tomorrow, and he wondered what exactly his group had in store for the rest of the summer.

“Now you can be the fairy princess you are.” Sai smiled at him from across the blanket, earning a smirk from Sasuke and Shikamaru.

“You’re just jealous you aren’t as beautiful as I am.” Naruto fluffed his hair around the flower crown to make it look better. “I look good in anything.”

“I think you look better in nothing.” Sai winked at him, earning a round of disgusted groans from the rest of the group, Naruto included.

If he could go just one day without Sai being weird to him…that would be an interesting day indeed.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for waiting patiently for chapter 2! I had a great time editing this chapter, especially cause I’ve been a camp counselor several times before and wow it is an adventure for sure. Stick around for more awkward Sasuke/Naruto moments!   
> ^^^  
> I'M SORRY ABOUT THE FURRY SCENE!  
> Haha but in all seriousness, thank you all for reading and I hope you guys liked the chapter! This story is harder than I thought it would be to write so the process is kind of slow...ANYWAY you should check out our other series Dirty Money if you haven't already because I smell the sequel coming very soon....

**Author's Note:**

> Hello AO3 readers! We’re back with our 5th fanfiction here, glad to be bringing you all some more NaruSasu. And it’s summer, so why not do a lighthearted summer counselor fic? Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter and look forward to the next installment! Thanks for reading! Also, we know some of you are hoping for a sequel to Dirty Money and not to worry-the amazing writer whatsinthebasement is doing some storyboarding and a sequel is in the works!


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